How to Lose Your Flying Jitters

You arrive at the airport just as the dormant butterflies in your stomach start to emerge from their cocoons and fly around begging to be let free.

Holding back the urge to get sick, you step out of the taxi just as the driver hands you your luggage, pay your transportation fee and begin to walk towards the doorway.

Baggage boys bombard you from every direction, reaching for your luggage to scam you into paying them but you’re stronger than that. Putting up you hand in a non-interested motion, you walk into the doorway and head towards the check-in counter.

Arriving to the airlines counter, you check your bags in and prepare yourself to pay the ridiculous amount of excess fees that they always tend to add onto anyone who purchasedairfare through them. Bewildered that your bag is only 2 ounces over the weight limit, you put up a small argument but end up walking towards the security line…a hundred bucks broker. Bastards.

As you make your way to the front of the impossibly long line, you are instructed to just about dress down to your skivvies, place everything on the conveyor belt, and walk through the oversized metal detector. Preparing yourself to be tackled like you see in the movies, you are surprised when you make it through without a single glance so getting dressed and grabbing your belongings, you head towards the gate and begin to board the plane.

Palms sweaty and extremely nervous you take your seat against the window and wonder what you got yourself into. Buckling the seat belt and glance outside at the ruckus of airline employees throwing your bags onto the plane. Losing yourself to thoughts of what the chances of them losing your luggage are, reality quickly creeps towards you when the plane begins to rumble…

“Is this normal? Is the plane going to catch fire? This was a bad idea…

Oh my…I’m going to get sick!”

Conspiring ways to preoccupy yourself from these first time flight jitters, you come up with the following ideas that could actually veer yourself away from letting those ‘butterflies’ lose into a white paper bag.

Listen to some Music –

There’s nothing better to soothe yourself out in a stressful situation than to actually take yourself out of that situation. Listening to your ipod is just one way that you can do this. Before you leave the house, turn on your computer and start uploading your favorite songs to your ipod.

You may even want to look up something more soothing such as Enya or a Nature soundtrack that way once you’ve boarded the plane, just pop in your headphones, close your eyes and release you emotions and get lost in your imagination.

Read a Book –

Whether you are interested in novels, short stories or magazines, perhaps takings some kind of reading material with you would be a good idea if you’ve never flown before. I’ve seen it numerous times while flying from place to place and quite frankly I would say that at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the people on a plane actually spend their time in the air reading.

It’s never really been my cup of tea as I like to write, but during my first couple of times flying from place to place I would usually have a few magazines stowed away in my carry on bag; especially for those 5-6 hour or more flights.

Play on your Laptop –

Perhaps your one of the lucky folks who actually carry a laptop with you like myself? If this is the case, you can lose those first time flight jitters by doing a number of things! I personally carry my laptop with me so that I have the opportunity to write more but don’t make this the only reason that you have it with you.

With a laptop, you can carry movie making software to put those collection of videos you recorded during you last family reunion into a short film, you could start that novel you’ve always wanted to write, or even pop in a couple of movies.

Play Video Games –

This can go hand in hand with your laptop and the only reason that I wrote this particular section separately is because with all the new portable gaming software out there nowadays there is nearly an unlimited amount of games that you can carry with you.

Lose yourself and your jitters to the electronic world that you’ve created. Finish the Zelda game, play Mario Brothers, or even Donkey Kong! Gaming is always a good way to go! 😉

Take a Cat Nap –

Another classic way to drop those first time flight jitters is to simply go to sleep. If you know you’re going to get anxious and/or nervous when boarding the plane, try to stay up late the previous night of your flight and rise out of bed earlier than the roosters.

Doing this, you may be so tired that you simply don’t give a rats ass what’s going on and once your take your seat, you’ll just pass out. I’ve had a many great naps while flying from place to place and when I woke I felt more rested than I have in days!

Socialize with Neighbors –

People don’t socialize the way they used to in previous years so why don’t you break that habit, lose your jitters and get to make some interesting connections by talking to your fellow flight members? I’ve met some very interesting people while flying from place to place and have had some genuine conversations.

You learn lots because when you are flying, there’s no telling where your neighbor may be coming from and are going. I’ve gotten so caught up in a conversation before that I just plum forgot that I was flying! Try it out; it works!

Meditate –

Are you even slightly into yoga and/or meditation? No? Who cares! Meditation is basically a form of losing yourself to find your inner being and what better time to lose yourself than while flying?

The art of meditating is very simple: just get relaxed…or as relaxed as you can in the cramped seating arrangements of your Spirit Airlines chairs put your head back, close your eyes and clear your mind. One of two things will happen: either you’ll begin to meditate or you’ll fall asleep. Either way you would have forgotten about those flying jitters.

There’s nothing to be afraid of when you are flying from place to place. It’s been proven that flying is one of the safest forms of transportation out there and not only that..it’s faster!

So the next time you make your way down to the airport, remember to keep these few key things in mind to get rid of those flying jitters. It’s all about keeping your mind preoccupied while your taking off. If you can do this, then consider yourself a member of the millions of people who enjoy flying every year!

About Ronald Robbins

Ron has been traveling non-stop around the world since the founding day of his blog Active Planet Travels back in June of 2011. He has found most of his professional interests in being a travel blogger, television host, photographer & bizarre food enthusiast.

2 Responses to How to Lose Your Flying Jitters

Meditation, reading, socializing, sleeping? Heck no! I haven’t flown in 30 something years, and if I ever get on a plane I will have to hit the liquor bottle!! I would be so nervous! I would need to have something a lot stronger to have that ” ok, let’s do this shit ” attitude! Great post!! I might consider some pine needle tea with a hell of alot of booze in it 😉